Obama is renaming the tallest peak in North America — and Republicans are freaking out

House
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) at his weekly press briefing on
Capitol Hill in Washington.Thomson
Reuters

President Barack Obama is taking action to end a debate over
nomenclature that has raged for years — and Republicans are not
happy about it.

On Sunday, Obama announced that Mount McKinley, the tallest peak
in North America, named after President William McKinley, would
officially be renamed Denali. That's the name historically given
to the mountain by native Alaskan tribes.

After the president's announcement, several high-profile
Republican members of Congress — and a presidential candidate —
from McKinley's native Ohio immediately denounced the decision.

"There is a reason President McKinley's name has served atop the
highest peak in North America for more than 100 years, and that
is because it is a testament to his great legacy," House Speaker
John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement, citing the 25th
president's record as a Civil War veteran.

"I’m deeply disappointed in this decision."

GOP presidential hopeful John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, also
weighed in on Monday.

As POTUS once again oversteps his bounds, Ohio knows every carnation is a monument to our own William McKinley. -John pic.twitter.com/GvQfqnIKOh

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), meanwhile, said Obama had circumvented
Congress, where the topic has been discussed for years.

"This decision by the administration is yet another example of
the president going around Congress," Portman said in a
statement. "I now urge the administration to work with me to find
alternative ways to preserve McKinley's legacy somewhere else in
the national park that once bore his name.

"President Obama has decided to ignore an act of Congress in
renaming Mount McKinley in order to promote his job-killing war
on energy," Gibbs said. "This political stunt is insulting to all
Ohioans."

President
Obama before signing the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and
Jerry Peak Wilderness Additions Act into law at his desk in Oval
Office at the White House.Thomson
Reuters

Debate over the mountain's name has proliferated for years.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Gibbs and other Ohio
members of Congress have repeatedly introduced legislation to
ensure that the mountain retain the McKinley name. And Ohio
lawmakers earlier this year blocked legislation introduced by
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to officially rename the mountain.

For its part, the White House argued that the name change was
important to honor the site as one of cultural significance for
native Alaskan tribes.

"McKinley became our 25th president, and was tragically
assassinated just six months into his second term," the White
House said in a fact sheet.

"But he never set foot in Alaska — and for centuries, the
mountain that rises some 20,000 feet above sea level, the tallest
on the North American continent, had been known by another name —
Denali. Generally believed to be central to the Athabascan
creation story, Denali is a site of significant cultural
importance to many Alaska Natives. The name 'Denali' has been
used for many years and is widely used across the state today."

Obama's move comes as he travels to Alaska to raise awareness of
the damaging effects of climate change. The state has been hit
particularly hard, as an increasing number of wildfires burn
thousands of acres each year and
rising sea levels threaten to engulf entire villages.